After having been absent from going to this joint for almost a year, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they have now included chicken as an option (besides the regular, which is pork and beef slices). My joy was short lived. When the chicken arrived, I was a bit disappointed, seeing as they were huge chunks of randomly cut chicken witht the skin still on. It seems odd to include chicken in this fashion, seeing as the rest of the choices are thinly sliced (which is the way I prefer it to be). Perhaps if they can regroup and decide to make slivers of chicken, instead of big hefty chunks, I'd be more thrilled. On top of that, after you've cooked your chicken - and the only way to do that is to throw into the boiling pot of water - it's flavorless. I know; state the obvious Einstein. I don't know how others like their chicken, but I like lots of pepper on my chicken, and I hardly like the fact that it was broiled. The addition of the skin, just made it taste slimy in my mouth.
Other than the minor misgivings of the chicken, I had a lovely evening chowing down on pork slices. My friend and I usually just whichever is the cheapest, and to be honest, I prefer the cheap kind. (We were once given the 'upgraded version' which was too fatty for my liking). There is, if I recall correctly, 4 varieties of dipping sauce - I opt for soy sauce.
They also offer two varities of rice: plain and like a fried rice type of style rice. At the TST branch, the only veg I saw was some sort of lettuce (that I didn't pay attention to) and spinach.
There are a variety of 'side dish' options to include into your hotpot like cuttlefish, mini sausage, fishball with cheese, salmon ball, tofu, soba etc. The drink selection is also quite okay. They provide: 7-Up, Pepsi, Miranda, water, apple juice, grape juice, 'fresh' orange juice. They also have a guide stuck to the juice dispenser that teaches you how to mix the drink, which is a nice touch.
The service is good. The staff are well-mannered and attentive. (They tried to offer my friend a plastic bag to place her phone, multiple times). And yes, there is a service charge (10%).
What can I say? The food isn't superb, but it's not meant to be. It's meant to be a relaxing time spent with whomever you're going with (you are alotted an hour and half to eat to your heart's content). It's really low-key - no fuss, no high expecations.
The only downfall is the seating. Unless you go with a party of 3+, you're pretty much gonna end up sitting next to random people, in my case it was a couple (just my luck). Perhaps it's because I'm really anti-social, but I don't enjoy being in the presense of strangers, when I'm trying to relax with my friend. But what can you do?
I still think 160 was a bit steep, since I'm accustomed to paying them around 130. The price may have gone up cause of the chicken, which sucks, because the chicken is massively disappointing.
